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UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon appointed President Jakaya Kikwete to participate in the retreat as part of the European Forum Alpbach 2013. He is the only African leader who was appointed to attend a three-day retreat this year.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has informed the Forum that the current situation in Syria will force his early return to New York, hindering him from participation in the final event on Saturday, August 31, 2013. Instead UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos will speak on Ban Ki-moon’s behalf.
Together with Austria’s President Heinz Fischer, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, she will discuss the topic “New Ideas for a Fair Globalization: The Role of Politics.
Franz Fischler, President of the European Forum Alpbach, said: “We regret that the Secretary General will be unable to join us in Alpbach but I naturally understand that the current issues being addressed by the UN demand his presence in New York.“
The three-day event commenced on Thursday, with an evening session headed by Valerie Amos and the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva.
The final day of the European Forum Alpbach 2013 will begin on Saturday with a panel discussion on “New Ideas for a Fair Globalization: What Should Entrepreneurs Do?”.
Prominent panelists will be the respected US American economist Jeffrey Sachs, the Chairman of UN Energy, Kandeh K. Yumkella, the Chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, the entrepreneur and founder of the Internet platform WAMDA, Habib Haddad, as well as the Chairman of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis - IIASA, Pavel Kabat.
Following a performance by the Vienna Philharmonic, the Forum will climax with a discussion between José Manuel Barroso, Valerie Amos, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete and Heinz Fischer about the role of the
International community in the revision of post-2015 development goals and new paths to cooperation between the United Nations and the European Union.